Antonio Brown done with the NFL? The Miami native says he’s retiring on Twitter
Antonio Brown is officially done with professional football... again.
The 32-year-old announced his retirement Monday afternoon with a cryptic string of tweets.
This news follows reports that the Seattle Seahawks did a “deep dive” into Brown who’s been spotted training with a Deerfield Beach High quarterback.
Brown hasn’t played since Week 2 of the 2019 season with the New England Patriots and caught a touchdown against the Miami Dolphins. The Patriots would release the receiver less than a week later amid allegations of sexual assault.
This actually isn’t the first time that he has called it quits. Two days after his release from the Patriots, the former All-Pro receiver tweeted that he was retiring.
“Will not be playing in the @NFL anymore,” Brown said at the time. “These owners can cancel deals do whatever they want at anytime we will see if the @NFLPA hold them accountable sad they can just void guarantees anytime going on 40m 2 months will see if they pay up!”
Genetics and geography predicted Brown’s greatness.
His father was swift wide receiver Eddie Brown. Not the Miami High and University of Miami Eddie Brown, who made a Pro Bowl during his NFL career that lasted from 1985-91., but the Miami Central and Louisiana Tech Eddie Brown. That Eddie Brown became “Touchdown Eddie Brown” in the Arena Football League from 1994-2003 and would be voted the league’s greatest player of its first 20 years.
There’s more than a little similarity to the Arena Football League then and the pass-first, pass-second, run-to-give-your-receivers-a-rest NFL of the last 15 years.
In addition to chromosomes, Antonio Brown grew up in skill-position factory of Liberty City and playing at Gwen Cherry Park for Tyrone Hilton, father of T.Y. Hilton. Brown wound up at Norland High School playing quarterback and was recruited heavily.
Brown could play anywhere, but couldn’t get in anywhere. A tumultuous home life that had him sleeping wherever he could find a soft spot for his head wasn’t conducive to academic performance. His grades too poor for any college, he went to go to a prep school at NC Tech in North Carolina.
Coming out of there in 2007, Brown was all set to come back home and go to FIU. But Brown found himself at the wrong place at the wrong time on the wrong campus.
A February 2007 altercation involving a friend and someone else, eventually involved Brown. At another time, it would’ve been dismissed with a “don’t do it again.” But, FIU was trying to clean up a sewage spill of a football program — 0-12 wasn’t even their biggest problem — and Brown became unwelcome before most people knew he’d been welcomed.
Had he stayed, FIU could’ve terrorized defenses with two future Pro Bowl wide receivers, Brown and Hilton, for at least the 2008 and 2009 seasons. Instead, Brown wound up at Central Michigan, converted to wide receiver there and racked up 305 catches for 3,199 yards and 22 touchdowns in 41 games.
Pittsburgh liked Brown well enough to draft him in the sixth round, but liked another wideout, Emmanuel Sanders, three rounds more. That gap closed after Brown went 89 yards with a reverse early in his NFL debut.
Once the Dolphins opened a starting position by luring Pittsburgh wide receiver Mike Wallace away with free agent cash, Brown became a starter and it was clear who the best wide receiver had been on the Steelers roster all along.
Over the next six seasons, Brown racked up six 100-catch, 1,000-receiving yard seasons. He led the league in receptions twice (2014, 2015), in receiving yards twice (2014, 2017) and touchdowns once (2018).
“Man among boys,” Hall of Fame cornerback and NFL GameDay analyst Deion Sanders would sigh weekly while commenting on Brown’s highlights.
But Brown’s moods and actions could shift as quickly as he could break off a route. He put a 2016 locker room playoff celebration on Facebook Live, a violation of NFL rules that broadcast Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin saying things about upcoming opponent New England that Tomlin would rather have stayed within the team.
Late in the 2018 season, Brown began missing meetings and, before the season finale, got into a practice argument with another player. He missed the rest of the practice week and was benched for the season finale. Benched for the start — Brown left at halftime.
Brown’s past 16 months have been nothing short of rough. A March 2019 trade sent him to the Oakland Raiders where he clashed with the general manager, nearly froze his feet off and engaged in a headwear argument for the ages — only to be cut in September.
His release from the Raiders was prompted by a former trainer who filed a lawsuit accusing Brown of rape. Days after news of the lawsuit became public, another women detailed incidents of sexual misconduct involving Brown in a story published by Sports Illustrated.
Fast forward to 2020 and Brown still couldn’t stay out the spotlight. First came an altercation with an ex-girlfriend in which the Miami native wave a bag of penis-shaped gummy candies at Hollywood police. No arrests were made but Hollywood police did sever all ties with the former NFL star.
A little more than a week later, Brown and his trainer Glenn Holt got into a fight with a delivery truck driver. Brown initially faced charges of burglary with battery, burglary of an unoccupied conveyance and criminal mischief but was able to escape with just probation after pleading no contest.
The NFL was still investigating the accusations of sexual assault at the time of his retirement. There have been no updates since their inquiry began back in September.
What’s next for Brown is a mystery. He has dabbled in music since in his free time, releasing more than 10 tracks under the stage name “AB.”
If this is truly the end, Brown will go down as one of the greatest value picks in NFL history. He will finish his career with 841 receptions, 11,263 yards and 75 touchdowns.
This is a breaking story and will be updated with more information.
This story was originally published July 20, 2020 at 3:05 PM.
